From Scat to Satire

FROM SCAT TO SATIRE: TOWARD A TAXONOMY OF HUMOR IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN MEDIA A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS BY BRIAN BOSWELL JOSEPH MISIEWICZ BALL STATE UNIVERSITY MUNCIE, INDIANA JULY 13, 2009 From Scat to Satire 2 Title Page 1 Table of Contents 2 List of Tables 3 Dedication 4 Acknowledgement 5 Abstract 6 Chapter I: Introduction 7 Chapter II: Review of Literature 18 Chapter III: Methods 28 Chapter IV: Analysis of Results 38 Chapter V: Discussion 53 Bibliography 59 Appendix A. Humor Instances in Some Like It Hot 61 Appendix B. Humor Instances in Dr. Strangelove 91 Appendix C. Humor Instances in Annie Hall 109 Appendix D. Humor Instances in Tootsie 128 Appendix E. Humor Instances in There’s Something About Mary 153 From Scat to Satire 3 List of Tables and Charts Table 1 – List of Zero Points 36 Table 2 – Terminology Used in the Analysis of the Films 51 Table 3 – Quantitative Results of the Films 52 Chart 1 – Result of Limiting the Nomadic Traits of Personality Comedians 32 From Scat to Satire 4 Dedication I would like to dedicate this volume to my wife Jennifer, the child we are expecting in September, and my daughter Molly, (who enjoys telling the joke: ―What tree can you hold in your hand? It‘s a palm tree.‖) Their encouragement, patience and inspiration have enabled me to persevere in both this thesis and my graduate studies overall. From Scat to Satire 5 Acknowledgements I would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. Joseph Misiewicz for his insights and support throughout my work on this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Michael Gerhard and Dr. Wes Gehring for their suggestions and inspiration. I would also like to thank my father Larry Boswell for instilling in me a love and appreciation of humor. From Scat to Satire 6 ABSTRACT THESIS: From Scat to Satire: Toward a Taxonomy for Humor in Twentieth Century American Media STUDENT: Brian Boswell DEGREE: Master of Arts COLLEGE: Telecommunications DATE: July13, 2009 PAGES: 174 Obvious differences exist between the comedy styling of, for example, Jack Benny and Benny Hill. Terms like ―highbrow‖ or ―lowbrow‖ are often used, but there is no functional method yet that could feasibly be used to qualify all of the single jokes, let alone the broader work. Currently loose classification systems are used, but they don‘t claim to be all encompassing. They are either too vague or too exclusive. This thesis selects several movies from the AFI list of the 100 funniest movies of all- time. In order to have a broad selection across time, it uses the highest-ranking movie from every decade beginning with the 50s. The movies are: Some Like it Hot (1959), Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), Annie Hall (1977), Tootsie (1982), and There’s Something About Mary (1998). Each movie is scrutinized, and each joke notated and analyzed. Once the analysis is complete on each individual joke from each individual film, the jokes are then sorted and organized. Patterns and characteristics are then sought and notated. Chapter I: Introduction E.B. White cautioned: ―Humor can be dissected, as a frog can, but the thing dies in the process and the innards are discouraging to any but the pure scientific mind‖ (Preface, 1941). Robert Benchley said ―In order to laugh at something, it is necessary (1) to know what you are laughing at, (2) to know why you are laughing, (3) to ask some people why they think you are laughing, (4) to jot down a few notes, (5) to laugh. Even then, the thing may not be cleared up for days‖ (Quoted in Gehring, 2001). Both White and Benchley point out the futility of humor research. The former claiming that analysis kills the joke, and the latter satirizing the process. Despite these warnings, however, this paper attempts to provide the beginning of a path toward a classification system for the elements of the comedy of mass media. Some researchers have developed methods for the categorization of single jokes. Yet the rise of the quantity of mass communications systems since the mid-twentieth century has yielded an increase in long-form works of humor. Additionally the increase in individualization trends of postmodernism and the abilities of web 2.0 demand an algorithm by which to make recommendations based on one‘s humor preferences. The methods of recommendation, the analysis of individual tastes, and indeed the classification system itself are far beyond the scope of this paper. Its intention is to analyze and collate humor instances from long-form works of humor. At this point it would be judicious to expound on the term long-form works. For the purposes of this paper this term includes a selection from any medium—such as From Scat to Satire 8 films, novels, television episodes, or webisodes—that can stand as a unit, uses an overarching narrative, and is written by a single or multiple authors. Thus a standup comedian‘s routine would be included, but the string of jokes traded by a group of friends at a party would not be. A humorous short story would be called a long-form work, while a book of collected knock-knock jokes would not. This paper addresses the individual elements of a humor instance. For the purposes of this paper a humor instance will be defined as anything comedic that could cause a person to laugh or smile. A humor instance could be the punch line to the world‘s funniest joke, a comedian getting a pie in the face, or an interesting point in a Lenny Bruce monologue. This delineation is important because the word joke in its strictest sense implies a spoken or written single-instance humorous occurrence, usually with a punch line. The movie Airplane!, for example, has numerous humor instances but few ―jokes‖. The ―joke‖ in this pure format rarely occurs in long-form works. When it does, the joke—and the joke teller—is often a source of derision. For instance, in Danny Kaye‘s radio show he used a ―bad joke‖ as his running gag. A Time Magazine article reports this way: His weekly show… is principally known for its variations of: "My sister married an Irishman." "Oh, really?" "No, O'Riley." Danny pays $3,500 a week to Goodman Ace, one of radio's top scripters, for such related versions of this gag as: "We have potatoes." "Oh, really?" "No, au gratin." Or, "My sister came from the southwest." "Oh, really?" "No, Oklahoma." Now, hardly a word beginning with "O" is safe (1946). From Scat to Satire 9 Orson Welles appeared as a guest star on Kaye‘s show on March 1st, 1946. During the course of the show he gave voice to this transition from joke telling to story- telling: Welles: Danny, what else goes on here on this merry half-hour of fun frolic and frivolity? Kaye: Well, you know Orson, the usual radio program. Welles: Oh, that bad huh? Kaye: What do you mean bad? We have music, songs, jokes, and once we got a laugh. Welles: Your suspenders broke? Kaye: Yes… No, No! We told a joke. Welles: Oh that‘s the joke I‘ve been hearing about. How does it go again? Kaye: Well, it‘s a very simple joke Orson—gets a very big laugh. Here, I‘ll do it with you. ‗Orson, my sister married an Irishman. Welles: Is that so? Kaye: No, O‘Riley. Welles: That‘s a joke? Kaye: Well, something went wrong here. Welles: Danny, you‘re about to go to Hollywood. If you tell that joke out there you‘ll go no place. Kaye: Oh really? Welles: No, oblivion. A more famous example of the current contempt of the joke and joke-teller is in the film Pulp Fiction. The character Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) reveals that she acted in a television pilot. She tells Vincent (John Travolta) about the character she played: Mia: …She knew a zillion old jokes her grandfather, an old vaudevillian, taught her. If we would have got picked up, they would have worked in a gimmick where every episode I would have told another joke. Vincent: Do you remember any of the jokes? Mia: Well I only got the chance to say one, 'cause we only did one show. Vincent: Tell me. Mia: No. It's really corny. Vincent: C'mon, don't be that way. Mia: No. You won't like it and I'll be embarrassed. Vincent: You told it in front of fifty million people and you can't tell it to me? I promise I won't laugh. From Scat to Satire 10 Mia: That's what I'm afraid of. It is fitting that the source of the jokes in the fictitious pilot was a vaudeville performer. The use of jokes as a humor instance in media began to die out with vaudeville when the situation comedy began replacing it on radio, and eventually television. Wes Gehring has chronicled the fact that even stand-up comedians—perhaps the last bastion of institutionalized joke-telling—are turning away from that tradition and more toward a "theatre of real life" style of getting laughs (Gehring, 2001). When a humor instance appears in this paper, it is numbered and addressed by that number. The joke is chosen merely to illustrate a point and to serve as an example. In daily practice jokes can occasionally be considered offensive.

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